The Bard of Jaffrabad

"This is why we're protesting, we are neither terrorists nor anti-nationals, but patriots who love India and the secular ideals it has always upheld," a protestor told the author

The other day, I went to Jantar Mantar to show my solidarity with a cross-section of people protesting the anti-poor thrust of the 2020 Budget. Speakers dissected the Budget, highlighting the dangers of the proposed privatisation of health care, the lowered purchasing power of the common man and the cutting of food subsidies and MGNREGA funds at a time when unemployment is at a 45-year high. 

The audience, majority from low-in­come background, meanwhile, exchanged notes about alleged growing religious polarisation, the charged atmosphere on university campuses where many of them had sent their children and of course, their opposition to